hist 281: position essay - university of alberta · 2. contrast and compare various examples of...
TRANSCRIPT
DANIEL HARVEY
HIST 281: Position Essay
http://wac.ctl.ualberta.ca/
www.c4w.arts.ualberta.ca
The Writing Process Getting started § Explore the assignment § Make rough notes § Pick a tentative topic Drafting/revising § Make an appointment at a writing centre; attend a group
tutorial § Get feedback on your draft/revise: work on higher order
concerns: structure, argument, organization Editing § Work on style and lower order concerns § Proofread, consult checklist for assignment
Today
Students may choose any one of the three essay topics, and write an argumentative paper drawing on assigned sources and textbook. Students will show through their footnoting that they have read and understood every source
Topics: A. (Neo-)Confucianism in early modern (~1600-~1800) Qing, Choson,
(and Vietnam): positive and negative aspects. B. Racism and nationalism in post-World War II China, (South) Korea,
and Japan. C. The changing status/rise of 'new' women in early 20th century Japan,
Korea, and China.
Assignment
Genre: position paper, analysis/synthesis descriptive/argumentative
Length: 700-800 words/1 page maximum including footnotes (Times New Roman, 10 pt font, narrow margins) Value: 25% grade Draft Due: February 12th References: Lastname, # Headings: No Reference list: ?
The Document
Grading criteria:
• Correct sources • Format
• Clarity of argument & ideas • Quality of writing
Criteria
1. Were the influences of Confucianism on issues of governance and society on the whole positive, or negative, or differing by issue? Define briefly what you mean by ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, and whether your judgment is in terms of the present, or the early modern period, or both.
2. Contrast and compare various examples of racism, and its relationship to nationalism, in all three countries in the post-war period. Note any common, region-wide features, and/or characteristics unique to each country (and, optionally, commonalities with global trends).
3. One of the most novel and sometimes contentious discourses of early 20th century Asia surrounded the need to change the role of women. Contrast and compare this discourse across the region. Note any common, region-wide features of this phenomenon, and/or characteristics unique to each country (and, optionally, commonalities with global trends).
Questions
What kind of paper are you being asked to write? • Look at the verbs/questions:
• “Were the…?” • “Contrast” • “Compare” • “Note”
• Implicit: “summarize,” “argue,” “take a position”
What do these mean?
Goal/purpose
Two aspects to this: 1. Understand and be able to summarize the
articles 2. Take a position based on readings Approaches: • Summarize/describe article: what are the most
important aspects in relation to the question? • Analysis: what are the component parts? • Synthesize: persuade audience of your position
Goal/purpose
Were the influences of Confucianism on issues of governance and society on the whole positive, or negative, or differing by issue? Define briefly what you mean by ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, and whether your judgment is in terms of the present, or the early modern period, or both. • How can you narrow this topic?
Narrowing your topic
Contrast and compare various examples of racism, and its relationship to nationalism, in all three countries in the post-war period. Note any common, region-wide features, and/or characteristics unique to each country (and, optionally, commonalities with global trends).
Narrowing your topic
One of the most novel and sometimes contentious discourses of early 20th century Asia surrounded the need to change the role of women. Contrast and compare this discourse across the region. Note any common, region-wide features of this phenomenon, and/or characteristics unique to each country (and, optionally, commonalities with global trends).
Evidence
Sources: • May only cite the assigned readings and
textbook • Can perform further research and outside
reading, but make sure you don’t plagiarize!!
Sources
Draw on topic description for your structure: Introduction: What is your topic? (How) Have you narrowed it?
What is your position/main claim? What are your sub-claims? What evidence do
you draw upon? Body: Specific details of sub-claims
Conclusion: Review argument/position/answer
Structure
Thesis statement
Must have an explicit position statement that answers the research question. Position must be: specific manageable interesting
Contains an observation, an argument, and (potentially) suggests some implications Explicitly links your position/claim to your sub-claims/reasons and evidence. “I argue X because of A, B, and C”
Informal Logic
Claim / Solution
Link (because) Reason / Analysis
Challenges / Problem (How, So what, Why?)
Evidence (Case studies, gov’t reports, legal documents, literature reviews, etc.)
Order of thesis statement/paper
Order of tasks
Always have a topic sentence that explicitly indicates what the paragraph is about, and how it fits in your argument
Always have a transition sentence that connects
each chunk of argument to the next: • use transitional words/phrases • link back to main claim or sub-claim
Paragraph structure
Strong paragraphs: • Express a clear, single idea with a topic sentence
• Move on to back up and expand upon that idea, through exemplification, clarification, comparison, demonstration, etc.
• Return to the main idea in the final paragraph
• Connect to both the next idea and the main thesis/position of the paper
Paragraph structure
Transitional Words and Devices TWC
1 Copyright© 2008, TWC, University of Victoria. This copy is solely for the use by a student, staff, or faculty member. Any other use may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owners.
Transitions for purpose For this purpose In order to To that end In order that So that To this end Transitions for argument or proof Accordingly Admittedly Although At this level Because Besides But Certainly Clearly, then Consequently
Despite Even so Even though Evidently For For the same reason Furthermore Granted However
In addition In any case In conclusion Indeed In fact In light of this evidence In summary Meanwhile Moreover
Nevertheless Nonetheless Obviously Of course On the one hand… On the other hand Regardless Since That is
Therefore Thus To be sure Truly Whatever the case may be What’s more
Transitions for exemplification, illustration, addition or clarification Additionally Again Also And then As an illustration Besides Besides that Case in point Equally important Finally First Following this further For example
For instance Further Furthermore Generally speaking i.e., (that is) In addition In another case In general In other words In particular In the same way In this case In this situation Like
More importantly Moreover Most importantly One characteristic… Another characteristic One example… another example One kind… another kind One way… Another way On this occasion Point in fact Pursuing this further
Specifically Such as Take the case of That is to say The final type The first (second, third) category The last group The most important component The most important example… The next example
The next part To add To clarify To demonstrate To explain To illustrate To put it another way To rephrase it What’s more
Transitions for emphasis or repetition Absolutely Always As I have noted As I have said As has been noted Assuredly By all means
Certainly Definitely Emphatically Eternally Extremely Forever In any case
In brief Indeed In fact Naturally Never Nobody denies No doubt
Obviously Of course Perennially Positively Surely Surprisingly To be sure
To repeat Undeniably Undoubtedly Unquestionably Without a doubt Without reservation
Transitions for comparison and contrast Although After all As Balanced against But By comparison Compared to Conversely
Despite Even though However In comparison In contrast In the same way In spite of Like
Likewise Meanwhile Nevertheless Nonetheless Of course Once in a while On the contrary On the one
hand…. On the other hand Otherwise Similarly Still Though Unlike Up against
Vis à vis Where Whereas While Yet
Transitional Words and Devices TWC
2 Copyright© 2008, TWC, University of Victoria. This copy is solely for the use by a student, staff, or faculty member. Any other use may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owners.
Transitions for concession and exception Admittedly Although this may be true Certainly Despite
Granted However In spite of It is true that Maybe
Nevertheless Nonetheless Of course Of course, it is true that
Once in a while Perhaps Regardless Sometimes Still
Though To be sure True Yet
Transitions for cause and effect Accordingly Another cause Another effect As a result
Because Consequently For For that reason
For this reason On account of Since So
The first (second, third) cause / effect The most
important cause / effect Therefore
Transitions for narration and process After After a few hours (days, months, years) After that Afterwards Almost Always As As soon as
At first At last At the same time Before Before long By this time Earlier Eventually Finally First… second…
third Firstly… secondly… thirdly Formerly Frequently Immediately In the first place In the meantime Later Later on
Meanwhile Nearly Never Next Now Once Previously Soon Subsequently The first
(second, third) step The next step The last step Then Thereafter Two hours (days, months, years) later When/While
Transitions for description Above Behind Below Between
Beyond In In back of In front of
Inside Nearby Next to On
On one side… On the other side Outside Over
The least important The most important Under
Transitional chains Basically... similarly... as well First(ly)... second(ly)... third(ly)... Generally... furthermore... finally In the first place... also... lastly In the first place... just in the same way... finally
In the first place... pursuing this further... finally In the light of the... it is easy to see that In this case… in another case To be sure... additionally... lastly
Transitions for conclusion or summarization Accordingly As a result As I have said As I have shown Consequently
Finally Hence In brief In conclusion Indeed
In final analysis In final consideration In general In sum
In summary Lastly On the whole Summing up To conclude
To summarize To sum up Therefore Thus
References
Kirszner, L.G. & Mandell, S.R. (2006).Writing first: Practice in context (3rd ed.). Boston , MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. The OWL at Purdue (2007). Transitional devices. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/574/02/ Transition words (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://larae.net/write/transition.html The Writing Centre at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (2006). Using transitions. Retrieved November 1, 2007,
from www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Transitions.html
How will you draw on your evidence? • Direct quotation (statistics, dates, etc.) • Paraphrase • Summary
Paraphrase & summarize when the ideas are important: content
Always integrate and comment on your quotations
Always indicate when you’re drawing on the words or ideas of another!!
Evidence
Writing concisely: • Avoid adjectives and adverbs
• Avoid passive constructions and forms of “to be”: use strong verbs and the active construction
e.g. Passive: “The dog was run away from by the cat.” Active: “The cat ran away from the dog.” Passive: Object – Verb – Subject Active: Subject – Verb – Object
• Avoid lists e.g. “Racism is hurtful, damaging, and bad.” “Long lists are cumbersome, annoying, and unnecessary.”
Concision
• Get feedback from a “trusted reader” • Consider using other students in the course or the
Centre for Writers • Ask readers to read for specific purposes: thesis,
structure, transitions, development of a particular paragraph or idea.
• Focus on higher-order concerns before lower-order ones
Drafting/Revising
Towards the due date, switch your focus from higher-order concerns (arrangement, arguments, evidence) to lower-order concerns: proofreading, grammar, citation format, grammar/spelling
Don’t Hand in a First Draft
Click to edit Master text styles Second level
• Third level - Fourth level · Fifth level
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